Current aircraft information systems such as weather, distributed turbulence collection and modeling, real time winds and temperatures aloft, flight operations, maintenance system, condition monitoring, airplane-on-ground (AOG) reporting, engine status, fuel usage, pilot logs, and Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) collection systems are operator focused. There is limited incentive to install aircraft and weather information collection equipment onboard operators' aircraft and transmit this information to the ground. This is due, at least in part, to the relatively high cost associated with equipment installation and data transmission. Moreover, the information obtained from a fleet of aircraft is of proportionately limited value. Stated slightly differently, the weather, operations, maintenance, and pilot information collected and transmitted to the ground from an individual aircraft may be of little or no use to the operator of that aircraft.
While there may be limited benefit to informing a flight crew what it already knows, benefit may accrue to other aircraft that may be about to enter a particular airspace where the data was collected. This may be especially true for operators with only a few aircraft. While airlines with large fleets may be able to justify the collection of weather, operations, maintenance, and pilot information to benefit their own fleet of aircraft that will be following a collector aircraft, operators are unlikely or unwilling to bear the cost of collecting information that will only benefit others. Similarly, operators will have the greatest need for up-to-date information when flying, and yet are least likely to have detailed real-time weather, operations, maintenance, and pilot information from other aircraft operating in the same airspace.
Hence, there is a need for a system for collaboratively collecting and distributing aviation information to aircraft on an as-needed only basis. The present invention addresses at least this need.